There are a wide variety of toys that utilize a light sensor. For example, some toys are able to react to a change in ambient light. Thus, covering a toy can cause a reaction that does not occur when the toy is exposed to light. In other toys, a light sensor is used to receive information. For example, some toy designs involve a toy that receives a series of pulsed light signals. The pulsed light sensors form a code that can be read by a light sensor on the toy. The code can then activate a feature of the toy, such as the playing of music.
Other toys communicate through the use of sound. For example, some toy designs involve transmitting an audio signal from one toy component to another. The sound may be inaudible to the human ear. To a child who is playing with the toy, it will seem as if the toy components are magically influencing and interacting with one another.
Although the above approaches work well for various applications, there are ongoing efforts to improve upon the way in which toys can communicate with one another and their external environment.